GENDER PERFORMATIVITY THEORY ( Butler)

FEMINIST THEORY ( van Zoonen )

REPRESENTATION THEORY ( Hall)

GENRE THEORY ( Neale)

Steve Neale’s theory of Repetition and Difference. Steve Neale states that genres all contain instances of repetition and difference: Difference is essential to the to the success of the genre.

Neale states that the film ( or tv programme) and it’s genre is defined by two things:

How much is conforms to its genre’s individual conventions and stereotypes. A film must match the genre’s conventions to be identified as part of that genre.

How much a film subverts the genre’s conventions and stereotypes. The film must subvert convention enough to be considered unique and not just a clone of an existing film.

Neale states that Hollywood’s generic regime performs two functions:

To guarantee pleasure and meaning for the audience.

To offset financial risks of film production by providing familiarity that ensures there isn't too much  innovation and difference.

Popular cinema relies on audiences finding pleasure in difference and repetition i.e. recognition of familiar elements and the way those elements are linked in an unfamiliar way or the way that unfamiliar elements might be introduced.

To the film’s production team (producer, director etc) genre provides a template.

To the film’s distributors genre provides assumptions about which audiences they should be marketing to.

To the film’s audience genre provides certain rules of engagement in terms of anticipation of enjoyment.

CULTIVATION THEORY ( Gerbner)

BINARY OPPOSITIONS ( Levi-Strauss )

SEMIOTICS ( Barthes)

Barthes referred to a range of media " codes " that hid deeper meaning in a text...

 

For example , for Tide and other print texts you might look at....

Semantic code - Something within a text that means something, often multiple meanings. There can be many meanings within a single text.

Symbolic code - A part of a text that 'stands in' for, or means something else. For example the gold dress Nicole Kidman wears in the Chanel No.5 advert symbolizes wealth, luxury, glamour and even power.  This is also referred to as iconography.

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PART 2 ( PAPER 2 ) 

Our main focus in Crime Drama  is on Barthes   action and enigma codes

Action code:

Barthes believed that this code was a way of advancing the narrative, it builds tension and leaves the audience guessing and asking questions. Proairetic elements add suspence to a narrative and anchors the audience. This type of code would normally be found in a film targeted at males as 'action' is a big part of this code and often includes scenes of violence (guns, weapons, crime) An example would be a man aiming a gun at his enemy but the audience would be left in suspence to who would die. This code often works alongside the Enigma code as they tie in together sharing the same features

 Enigma code:

This code refers to an element of a story which is not fully explained. A narrative with this code often contains a sense of mystery and makes the audience questionable. Using this code within a narrative usually frustrates an audience but also pulls them in as they want to find out what happens next and they also want their questions answered. It is not usually till the end of a piece of text that all answers are revealed and everything starts to make sense.

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IDENTITY ( Gauntlett)

POSTCOLONIALISM ( Gilroy )

POSTMODERNISM

OVERVIEW : POSTER

CURRAN AND SEATON ( Media power )

VIDEO ESSAY LONG  on  Media industries'power,influence and conglomerates

REGULATION AND LIVINGSTONE/LUND

LINK to presentation on issues surrounding regulation and harmful media content , including Livingstone and Lund's theory of regulation , Gerbner and others.